Moments
by Aschenhimmel
Summary: Glimpses of transient times. A collection of Crimson Twilight related and nonCT oneshots. First Triad up.
1. Vincent

"Moments"

by Aizhen Aschenhimmel

Disclaimer: RO belongs to Gravity. CT belongs to Tom.

A/N: I've always been a fan of Tom Valor's Crimson Twilight series :3 Many of these stories will only make sense if you read Crimson Twilight. I endlessly emailed him for info about his world, and the results, I used in these fics. It should be in _Shards_, but I've frozen the story (sigh). Not all stories will be CT-based though...because some could stand alone by themselves. Others are made with CT in mind but ended up more like a stand-alone one shot. Anyways! Reviews would be very much welcome :3

Dedication: To Barbs aka Kinori, one of the best persons around there. The first three one-shots are dedicated to you.

First Glimpse: _Vincent_

Memories become more lucid as time passes by - especially the ones you want to forget.

They get clearer with every visit he takes.

And along with the sharp images came the sharp pain, the overwhelming sorrow barely containable and almost impossible to hide.

It was one of those days when gloom was the word to describe the atmosphere - a day that seemed to suspended in a state of perpetual twilight. Cold and gray with nothing audible over the faint whispers of the early morning breeze and the murmurs of the leaves rustling against each other. The perfect backdrop for a visit in the city's graveyard.

It wasn't that he relished the grief. It wasn't in his nature to brood and reflect the darker sides of life. He found no secret pleasure in this sadness, found no relief in the stock reasons given to him in vain attempts of comfort. It tormented him, those memories, the sights and sounds of it, the emotions that went along with them. He would've stopped visiting...no, he wouldn't have visited at all. But it was duty. Duty to the deceased family. At least he had to show that he valued them.

It was duty to remember.

Everything he did was for them. But according to his vows as a knight of Glastheim, he must value the city more than everything else, more than his life, more than the life of others.

They had taken the same vows too. They were a family of knights proud for producing six generations of defenders - respected, though not particularly wealthy, known by most of the populace. They had known the chivalric oaths by heart, reared up to believe that the noble blood of the Glastheimian knight runs in their veins, that their ultimate duty was to defend the fair city with their life. One belief was instilled to them from their earliest days, a belief that is shared by every knight and raydric: there is nothing more glorious than to die in the name of the Church and Empire.

It was also the quintessential response of comfort for the fallen knight's bereaved.

He felt no relief from those words. Only more despair. Maybe a bit of anger, though he cannot admit even to himself. His pride as a knight severely shattered under the blow of sorrow caused by near-simultaneous deaths. The thought that things would've been different if they weren't knights.

But what was there to do? He was alive, they were dead. A knight of Glastheim sheds no tears. He must continue his service to the Empire, offer up his life, wait for what they say was a glorious end.

Yet no matter how hard and long he gazed, he saw no glory in the bloodied faces that refused to be forgotten.

A/N: The first story's already an exception...well, _Vincent _was supposed to be longer with two characters involved (Vincent and a female knight, Sharia). But I liked the way the story turned out, short and in my opinion, captures Vince's melancholic, angsty and somewhat desperate mood. The other stories will be longer. Reviews are welcome. If grammatical errors are spotted (I tend to have them a lot, sigh) please tell me. Thanks : )


	2. Lorenzo

"Moments"

by Aizhen Aschenhimmel

Disclaimer: Try talking to _Vince_.

Dedication: To Barbs aka Kinori, who owns the shop where me and bro play the game. As I've said, the first three are dedicated to you.

Second Glimpse: _Lorenzo_

_"A knight of Glastheim puts the Empire above everything. Above his family and friends. Above his life."_

He had always wanted to become a knight.

It wasn't because he was violent in nature and loved to fight. It wasn't all about influence and power either. If he had been after those, he would've chosen priesthood. But priesthood, for all the reverence it attracts, didn't appeal to him.

What caught his eye then? His father had always told him that knighthood was a nasty business, full of blood and pain, and although the city requires a child from each family to be a member of the Army, their wealth and status could spare them from the edict. He often said that glory existed before and after the battle, not during the fight. But there was death. He didn't listen to his father though.

_"Tonight we will arrest five Imperial courtiers suspected of plotting against the Emperor. Our intelligence tells us that tonight they will hold a meeting in one of the member's residence. This is a fine opportunity to arrest them all. We are told to bring them in alive, although if they put up resistance, we are to finish them right on the spot."_

He guessed that it was because knights have this kind of pride and dignity to them, a kind of authority that is different from that of the priests. Priests teach the doctrines of the Church, and rarely were they in mortal danger. Yes, some of them go in battles, but they weren't the ones engaging in the onslaught. Knights fight to defend the city, always participating in wars. And when they go back triumphant, people were happy. Festive. To his eyes, these were glorious scenes - things that were radically different and more exciting from the quiet existence he had inside the mansion.

Yes, it was all about glory.

_"Miserea, don't go. I can vouch for you. Just don't go. I can talk to the Knight Commander about you not going - I'm his second-in-command and Terial will listen to me somehow. Don't go with tonight's operation. You...you'd regret if you do!"_

Knighthood was the harshest, most difficult thing he had ever underwent. It was terribly different from the life he knew as a child. He couldn't count how many times he was injured in training or how many times he had to wash the blood of his clothes. Many times he nearly cried and thought of quitting. It was so hard, so cruel! Only one thought prevented him from leaving the barracks.

The greatest thing you could ever do is to serve Glastheim.

Over and over this was repeated to him. Repeated by the drillmaster, by the trainers, by the older knights who sometimes passed by.

Kill for Glastheim. Die for Glastheim.

His shocked, confused mind gradually came into terms with the creed.

It sounded..._wonderful_.

_"Lady Coruscier, I do not know why are you saying this, but as this is my first mission as a knight, only death could bar me from joining this operation."_

It was surprising how one single thought could make a boy endure. That and the full rigors of training and the sight of blood and death were enough to change a naive boy into a young man with unquestionable loyalty to the state. When knighthood was finally conferred upon him, the allures of glory had become dimmer in his eyes. He thought of nothing more but to serve the city. The boy who was obsessed with grandeur was no more. In his place was the devoted knight who was willing to kill and be killed for Glastheim.

_"All of you are under arrest for suspected treason against the Empire of Glastheim. We suggest that you surrender peacefully, or we will be forced to use violence."_

His mother wept when she saw him in his armor. Wept as though he was dead. You've changed, she said. It is as if you're not our boy anymore. I do not recognize my son in you.

He was among the hundreds of other boys who were dazzled by the display of dignity - if the coldness imposed by rigid obedience could be rightfully called dignity - of the armored ones who patrolled the streets and returned to battle with scars and indifferent faces.

_"My son..."_

The greatest thing you could ever do is to serve Glastheim.

He closed his eyes as the blood splattered to his face. The Knight Commander merely looked on. The Second-in-Command stared, her shock plain in spite of her silence. The rest of the division watched in mute indifference.

Is blood truly thicker than water?

_"Kill that traitor. Now."_

Death to all traitors.

Whoever they may be.

For the Empire.

_"Yes sir."_

Die.

A/N: Much, much longer than _Vincent_, and quite the opposite too. Here's your fanatic knight. I thought of putting more interaction between the characters, but I guess it turned okay (for my tastes, anyway). Reviews are welcome :)!


	3. Albert

"Moments"

by Aizhen Aschenhimmel

Disclaimer: Talk to _Vincent _:3

Dedication: To Barbs aka Kinori, who's one hell of a good friend and believed that I could write decent stories. Much love to you, buddy : )

Third Glimpse: _Albert_

"Albert, have you seen him?"

I did. I was with him in that seemingly endless corridor, with cells on either side.

The prisoner and the knight escort. The road to death.

_"Why?"_

_"I believed in their cause. The people must know the truth."_

_"You're crazy. You know that's mad!"_

_"We're all mad, Albert. We're all mad to live in this nightmare, to let the Emperor and the priesthood control us, to let ourselves be fooled by their madness..."_

_"Avriend, what are you saying!"_

_"The truth. You know these things, Albert. You know these things, you're aware of this wild hell! You know that people are dying right beneath our feet and the Empire and the Church sanction these killings! These abominations! This horrible collaboration between the Church and the State!"_

_"Yes, I know of these things! We both know of these experiments, of this terrible human experimentation, the abduction of children to be used as specimens. I know it, before you did. But we also know that if you go against the Church, you're asking for death! You'd...you'd be one of those...of those horrors you speak of. That's worse than death! You know that!"_

_Bitter laughter. "When you speak, Albert, it's as though I still have time. As though the...'error' can be corrected."_

_Silence._

_"God...God damn it! I wish I could do something! Or...or did something-"_

_"At least, I have the comfort of having a friend to arrest me."_

_"Screw it! I can't...I can't stand being helpless here. I can't just...I can't just lead my best buddy to that...that _place_! This sucks! Why does this have to happen? Why...?"_

_"It's...fate. Or maybe choice. I don't know. I wish I do. All I can think of is that life could be foul."_

_"How can you take this so easily?! Avriend, you know what awaits you there! Those things...those stupid priests and their cohorts..."_

_"I know. Perfectly so. And I have prepared myself for whatever horror awaits me."_

_"Are you...Avriend, this is stupid. Everything! Gah! This is crazy! I don't know with you, if this whole shit is a deathwish of yours, but damn it, arresting you and leading you there - I feel like I've just killed you! I can't take this!"_

_"You have no fault in this. You're just doing your job."_

_"Screw this job. Screw it, this Empire bullshit-"_

_"Don't speak like that. Al, this is my choice. I've known that this will happen in the first place. And maybe it's also a good thing you're the last person I'd ever see."_

_"You call this good? How about your sister? How can I ever face Arcelle?"_

_"We're almost there. Albert, listen...I only ask you of one thing. Take care of Arcelle. Tell her nothing. Make up a story, any story, I don't care, just give her a reason why I'm gone and won't be coming back. Don't tell her of my involvement with Loric Miserea or any of that crap. Don't tell her you arrested me. "_

_"Avriend-!"_

_"Do it. Promise me. I don't care what happens to me there as long as you promise me that Arcelle's safe. Even if they throw me to hell itself. Just Arcelle. Make sure she'll know nothing."_

_"Damn it, just damn it, I can't believe this-"_

_"Sir Lacrimae. We are here for the prisoner."_

_"Are you people too excited or what!"_

_"Sir Lacrimae, we have to bring him in now."_

_The door creaked open and the two acolytes pushed him inside. Then the door slammed to a close._

_For a moment he was numb. Paralyzed. Blank._

_Then he walked away - no, he ran away - as fast as he could._

"Albert, have you seen my brother?"

Arcelle's innocent face burned in his mind. _Yes. Yes I did._

"...No. I haven't...seen him."

And they will never see him again.

A/N: This is the most disturbing to write for me. Albert Lacrimae wasn't supposed to be this verbally rough, but I guess his swearing around emphasized how agonized he is in the story. I hope I made a decent job in here, showing how Albert unravels throughout.

First three finished! Alright...to the next three...


End file.
